Toni Bell is the creator and host of the What’s Up with Docs Podcast. She has worked in the documentary field for close to 10 years. Her foray into documentary film began when she wrote and edited the newsletter for the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers – West. This led to her first gig as a production assistant and then an archival researcher for the film, Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race, which was aired nationally on PBS. Since then, she has conducted archival research for several films and television shows, including Centric’s “Being.” She is an independent documentary consultant and has worked as Impact Strategist for Looky Looky Pictures. She worked on films such as Building the American Dream, Councilwoman, Through the Night, and And She Can Be Next. She has been a speaker, panelist, mentor, and juror at documentary film festivals and labs such as NALIP, Dok Leipzig, HotDocs, IFPWeek, Outfest, Docs by the Sea, and the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. She currently works with Auburn Seminary’s Hartley Media Impact Initiative and serves on the advisory board of the Southeast European Film Festival. Toni is also part of the inaugural cohort of Art Equity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle is designed to center, support, and address the experiences of BIPOC leaders of cultural institutions. She is the former Filmmaker Services Manager at the International Documentary Association, where she was responsible for handling the day-to-day operations of the fiscal sponsorship program. Toni curated the IDA’s DocuClub work-in-progress screening series, of which many of the films have premiered at film festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, and CPH: Dox. She holds a MAT-TESOL and an MA in Visual Anthropology from USC, an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University, and a certificate in professional screenwriting from UCLA.

Evy Constantine is the Head of Social Impact at Odyssey Impact® where she leads the impact team, and strategy and execution for all impact campaigns and initiatives. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Communication where she earned a Master’s degree in Leadership for Creative Enterprises, graduating summa cum laude. She holds a Bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from The New School in New York City where she majored in Film and Media Studies, concentrating on all aspects of screenwriting. She holds a certificate in Negotiation Mastery from Harvard Business School. She has produced Award-winning films with KaplaniKid Productions, which have had their debut screenings at the Festival de Cannes.

Evy has held positions at various film and media companies, including Media Strategist at Spark Foundry, and handling Acquisitions and Development Strategy for film streaming start-up, Flix Premiere. She is a member of IDA, ACLU, NAACP and the Impact Guild, and a very proud and active member of both The New School Alumni Association and the Northwestern University Alumni Association, where she serves on the Alumni Admissions Council.

Nancy Dionne is a award-winning documentary filmmaker and photojournalist. She says that “A good film can show you what a person or situation looks like but a great film allows you to feel what it’s actually like to be that person, in that situation.”

Nancy connects people together through inspired calls to action that foster change for both with filmmakers for Transform Films and with the Odyssey Impact® Team.  She leads the #MyJustice Film Award in partnership with DOC NYC and with generous support from Paramount.

She is a Yahoo!Japan Creator artist, founder of both “Express Your Last Wishes: Leave in Love” and “On A Threshold Films” and has worked with the IDA, SF Film Festival and graduated on the Dean’s List from the New York Film Academy’s intensive documentary program and with honors in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Denis Gooding is a senior business attorney who has represented a wide range of domestic and international organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies. He has served as Trustee’s Counsel for financial institutions such as Commerce Bank, U.S. Bank, and The Bank of New York. He advises private clients on acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, governance, and general corporate matters. In addition, Denis uses his extensive corporate experience to provide advice and counsel to not for profit clients in order to help them maximize their resources and expand their capabilities. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Yale University.

Anne leads Odyssey Impact®’s diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and initiatives where she works closely with the organization’s faith-based and multicultural partners as our Sr. Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Faith-Based Partnerships. She has more than a decade of experience in strategic planning and development in both the private and non-profit sectors. Anne is a graduate of New York Medical College where she received a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Policy and Management. She received her BA in Management from Manhattanville College, a Certificate in Television and Film Producing at NYU, as well as, a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. Anne previously served as an Outreach Producer for Talking Eyes Media where she cultivated relationships with prospective funders, institutions of higher education and national organizations. She also served as a Strategic Development Consultant where she created the strategic development plan for the Cine Institute. Anne served as a Working Group Consultant at the Clinton Global Initiative where she was responsible for building and leading a cohort of thought leaders focused on health and wellness in the United States. She also served as a Regional Vice President and Senior Relations Representative in the Healthcare sector. Anne was born in Brussels, Belgium and raised in New York.

Founder and Director of the “Full Frame Documentary Festival” for 10 years, she is also the Director and Producer of “Sidney Lumet” (2015) which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Among her many credits as an independent film maker are the Peabody and Emmy Award winning film “The Loving Story” which was shortlisted for the 2011 Academy Awards and received the WGA Screenwriters Award.

Andrew Michael Ellis is a filmmaker who uses intimate storytelling to raise consciousness around complex social issues. His work has been featured by Sundance, DOC NYC, and Camerimage, as well as outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. Most recently, Andrew spent the past year working with film director Terrence Malick, as both an editor, and 2nd unit cinematographer.

Nailah’s acclaimed work has been distributed domestically and internationally on the film festival circuit, theatrically and televised. Her debut documentary Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Pointe a la Hache, told the story of the little known African American oyster fishing community in Plaquemines Parish and their fight for justice in the aftermath of the 2010 BP Oil Spill. The film was acquired by ARRAY and is currently available on The Urban Movie Channel. In 2017, Nailah was nominated for a National Magazine Ellie award for directing Essence Magazine’s Black Girl Magic Episode 4. Nailah’s first narrative film, Plaquemines, was awarded the inaugural Create Louisiana $50k Short Film grant. It was chosen as an American Black Film Festival HBO Shorts finalist and is currently available on HBO platforms. Nailah’s current work includes the documentary Commuted, about a 51-year-old woman whose triple life sentence was commuted by the Obama Administration in 2016. The film is supported by Chicken & Egg Pictures, the Tribeca Film Institute, Firelight Media, Black Public Media, the Southern Documentary Fund and ITVS.

Kirsten is an Emmy-Award winning documentary filmmaker. Recent credits include: Stranger/Sister (premiered Fall 2020); Healing the Healers: Communal Trauma documentary series (Golden Telly Award 2020) which supports clergy during moments of mass community trauma; Healing the Healers: Domestic Violence (Bronze Telly Award 2021); and Healing the Healers: Youth Mental Health. Her Emmy-winning independent film, The Homestretch, a feature documentary about homeless high school students in Chicago Public Schools, was a co-production with Kartemquin Films (PBS, ITVS). Additional indie film projects include the award-winning Asparagus! Stalking the American Life (PBS) and The Girl With the Rivet Gun – an animated short documentary about Rosie the Riveter (AmDocs, Cinequest 2020). Her work has been supported by the ITVS, CPB, AmDoc, MacArthur Foundation, the Sundance Institute, Fledgling Fund, Chicken and Egg, Good Pitch and Bertha Foundation/Brit Docs. She has a diverse background in developing new content which focuses on social justice issues. Kirsten is a Fellow at the Sundance Documentary Institute and a graduate of the Master’s Directing program at The Juilliard School.

Sebastian Sdaigui was a San Francisco native with a keen eye for unique characters and wild visuals. His music video work garnered the attention of Ariana Grande, Future, 2Chainz, Ty Dolla $ign, French Montana, Tyla Yaweh, and Lil Kim — to name a few. He directed branded content for PGA, MLB, State Farm, and more. Sebastian also served as resident director at major label Def Jam Recordings, where he spearheaded the “I AM DEF JAM” campaign. This series celebrates individuality and identity in the music industry by delving into its artists’ personal lives and creative processes.

Kim Snyder’s most recent feature documentary, Us Kids premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2020 Sundance contest. Prior, she directed the Peabody award-winning documentary Newtown, which premiered in the US Competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.  Newtown screened at premiere festivals worldwide and was theatrically released followed by a national broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens and Netflix.  Her most recent short, Lessons from a School Shooting: Notes from Dunblane, premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was awarded Best Documentary Short followed by the DocDispatch Award at the 2018 Sheffield DocFest and a Grierson Award nomination. Lessons… is a Netflix Original and is streaming in 196 countries. Snyder’s prior works include the feature documentary, Welcome to Shelbyville, nationally broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens in 2011, and over a dozen short documentaries. Kim’s award-winning directorial debut feature documentary, I Remember Me was theatrically distributed by Zeitgeist Films. In 1994, she associate-produced the Academy Award-winning short film Trevor. Kim graduated with a Masters in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and resides in New York City.

Taber’s recent documentary projects include producing Siempre, Luis, which follows Luis Miranda, the father of Lin-Manuel Miranda, as he attempts to mount a production of “Hamilton” in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Siempre, Luis premiered at Sundance 2020 and will stream on HBO this October. She directed the Wavelength Productions feature How to Be Normal, the coming of age story of a young man who, as a child, underwent a unique and controversial treatment for autism. Other projects include the PBS special Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death and the award-winning Milwaukee 53206. She has worked on films for the PBS series FRONTLINE including Life and Death in Assisted Living, Dollars and Dentists, and The Child Cases, and she was a co-producer on the four-part PBS NOVA series: The Fabric of the Cosmos. Taber co-produced the Emmy-award winning feature documentary Homestretch.